


Stars Fading

by zjofierose



Series: dream a little dream of me [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Gift Giving, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Young Shiro (Voltron), briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26766838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zjofierose/pseuds/zjofierose
Summary: Keith knows where to go because Shiro had told him, knows the little house by sight from the many pictures Shiro would scroll through when he was feeling melancholy or nostalgic. He’s been waiting for this chance his whole life, wondering when the moment would come - the second his ship breaks orbit above Earth while simultaneously displaying a date in the past, Keith knows: it’s time.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Series: dream a little dream of me [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1650592
Comments: 23
Kudos: 61
Collections: Across Realities





	Stars Fading

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Across Realities zine, in collaboration with the wonderful CassyFe, whose art was an inspiration!

Keith knows where to go because Shiro had told him, knows the little house by sight from the many pictures Shiro would scroll through when he was feeling melancholy or nostalgic. He’s been waiting for this chance his whole life, wondering when the moment would come - the second his ship breaks orbit above Earth while simultaneously displaying a date in the past, Keith knows: it’s time.

He lands his ship with ease, the Blade of Marmora stealth tech allowing him to park it on the outskirts of town without attracting notice. He pulls on some clothing that’s been shoved in the back cargo hold for who-knows-how-long, and eyes himself critically. It’s not really right for the time period his chronometer is displaying, but he thinks he can pass as an eccentric tourist if he smiles a lot and fakes an accent. He runs a hand through his hair and tries to settle his nerves. It’s Shiro - he can’t afford to fuck this up.

—

There’s a toy store right in downtown, one of those mom and pop affairs with big windows and hand-painted murals on the walls, assorted whirly-gigs and a hundred rainbow wind chimes hanging on the front steps. The hand-lettered sign out front reads ‘The Smiling Moon’ in looping gold script against a navy background, freshly touched up and gleaming. It’s exactly the sort of place Keith hasn’t been since before his dad died, and he stands out front for a moment taking it in.

A small bell rings when he opens the door, and a voice shouts from the back for him to come on in, so he does. He skips the infant and toddler section without hesitation; if the date in his ship is correct, Shiro’s already six years old - he won’t be interested in a rattle or a teething ring. He also doesn’t think Shiro was ever much for stuffed animals, so he skips past those as well and heads straight for the science and model kit displays. 

_ Jackpot _ , he thinks to himself, picking up a large, rectangular box. It features a photo of a space shuttle splayed across the front: the Discovery, he realizes as he examines it more closely. It’s marked ages 8+, but Shiro’s always been precocious - he should have no trouble with it. 

Keith tucks it under his arm, still browsing. He doesn’t know how many times he gets to do this, Shiro would never tell him. Didn’t want to tell him any details at all, because he insisted it would “spoil the timestream,” even though Keith (very reasonably, he thinks) repeatedly pointed out that time loops are tautological, and whatever Shiro remembers happening will be what Keith does, regardless of whether he knows beforehand or not. 

“If that’s the case,” Shiro had said, smiling fondly at him, “then there’s definitely no reason you need to know. It won’t make a difference.”

Keith had groaned and flopped onto his belly, burying his face in the pillow in frustration. “I just don’t want to get it wrong,” he mumbled, letting the drag of Shiro’s hand down his back soothe him. 

“You won’t,” Shiro told him firmly, “you can’t. What you did…” he trails off, and shakes his head. “I’m sure it will seem very little to you, but to me… at every important turn of my life, you were there. You were a constant presence before I ever knew who you were, and by the time I figured it out, I couldn’t imagine it any other way.”

Keith smiles at the memory, and picks up a build-your-own mobile model of the solar system. It comes with glow-in-the-dark paint and a sheet of stars. Keith turns it over in his hands- the kit is complete, no need to run to the hardware store for tiny dowel rods or fishing line, and there are several small-tipped paint brushes included. He sticks it under his other arm.

“Can I get you a basket?” a voice asks from beside him, and Keith turns to see a friendly, middle-aged woman with long blue hair in a bun. 

“Thanks.” Keith takes the offered plastic receptacle and settles his purchases carefully in it, turning back to the shelves thoughtfully. 

“Are you looking for anything in particular?” 

“Um,” Keith says, thinking. “My nephew. He’s really into science. Wants to be a pilot when he grows up, or an astronaut.” He pauses. “I’m going to be away for a while, so I’m trying to buy some presents for a range of ages.”

“Aren’t you the uncle of the year.” The shopkeeper pats him firmly on the back, and Keith is reminded suddenly of his mother. “I think we can get you all sorted. Right this way.”

—

By the time he stows the results of his shopping trip (solar system mobile, spaceship model, build-your-own dragon-kite, and more) in the back of his ship, he’s exhausted. The last bag was the heaviest, and he flops down in the pilot’s seat with a breath of relief and a book. He’d seen it as he was checking out, recognized the cover as one that Shiro’s always kept in his quarters; Keith’s never read it, but he bought it on impulse, caught suddenly in the thought that if he doesn’t buy it, Shiro will never have it. 

He wants to look through it, but he’s also starving, so he sets it aside and ventures out in search of dinner.

By the time he gets back to his ship he’s tired, so he curls up in his bunk, book with him. It’s beautifully illustrated, a real old-fashioned fairy tale about a beautiful young princess whose father is forced to marry a beautiful but wicked sorceress in exchange for safe passage through a dangerous wood. He makes it two pages in before he falls asleep, hand creasing a page where it lays. 

—

When he wakes in the morning and looks at the date, he’s surprised to discover that the chronometer has moved months while he slept. The time bubble must be localized, and with a start it dawns on him that today is Shiro’s seventh (or first-and-three-quarters) birthday - February 28th. 

He flings himself into the back and grabs for the model solar system kit. He wraps it hastily but carefully in the rocket-ship themed wrapping he’d gotten with the rest of his goods, taping down the corners and sealing it shut. At the last second he grabs a piece of paper and a marker. “Aim for the stars,” he writes, and tapes that on, too. He wipes his hands carefully on his borrowed clothes before he leaves; he doesn’t want to ruin the wrapping job with evidence of his nerves.

Sneaking into the Shirogane house is easy for a trained spy; there’s a party for Shiro going in the front of the house, so Keith slides in the back and waits until everyone is focused on Shiro blowing out his candles to slide his gift into the waiting pile. He’s out again before they notice, a small smile on his face. 

He gets some food and spends the afternoon wrapping the rest of the gifts, not wanting to get caught unprepared for the next time jump. After night falls, he sneaks back out again, unable to resist the temptation of Shiro so close. 

The lights are out in the little house, but Keith’s Galran eyes have excellent night vision. He peers through the window, heart clenching at the sight of little Shiro asleep, his dark hair spilling messily across the pillow, his pale cheeks alight with the faint glow of stars.

—

Keith wakes in the morning and reads a few more pages of the book while he munches on a ration bar. He’s jumped again, and this time he recognized the date with a sinking knot in the pit of his stomach. It makes sense that he’s here, but it doesn’t make him dread it any less.

He turns a page, taking in the vivid scene that unfolds before him. The wicked sorceress has discovered where the king has hidden away the princess and her brothers, and has tricked the boys with magic into becoming swans who fly away from their hidden castle, leaving their sister behind, alone. 

The book’s as sad as the day itself, so Keith sets it aside and grabs the next package. 

He doesn’t go to the cemetery; cemeteries hold too many future memories of his own, and he doesn’t want to see it. He lets himself into the little house instead, trying not to breathe the overwhelming perfume of the floral arrangements that fill the front room. He sets the wrapped present on Shiro’s tidily made bed, wincing at the small note he’d taped to the box. What are you supposed to say to an eight-year-old who’s just lost both his parents? Probably something better than this, but Keith doesn’t know what. 

He takes a long walk before he heads back to the ship, hours of wandering along the cliffs and rocky fields of Shiro’s home until he gives up and goes back, heartsick and footsore.

In the book, the young princess must complete an impossible task in order to save her brothers’ lives. It’s cold comfort, and Keith begins to wish he’d never bought it.

—

The next days pass similarly - there’s no rhyme or reason that Keith can discern to the jumps, other than that they happen roughly every eighteen to twenty-four hours. Some of them are important dates in Shiro’s life, often birthdays or holidays, but not all - Keith leaves him the dragon kite on a perfectly ordinary Tuesday in May when Shiro is thirteen, and hides a codebook in his bookshelf sometime in November of the following year. 

He does notice that Shiro starts watching for him. It’s fair; Keith would do the same if he were getting years’ worth of mystery presents from a total stranger, but ultimately teenage Shiro is no match for Keith’s Blade experience. He lets Shiro glimpse him once, gives him a wave and a quick salute from a distance where he can’t possibly pick out Keith’s features. It’s exhilarating, but ultimately foolish, and he doesn’t do it again.

The princess is working away at her impossible task, forced to marry a handsome prince because she literally can’t say no, and Keith gives up and wraps the book. It’s the last gift he has - really, he should have given it many gifts ago, it’s a children’s fairy tale, but there’s no helping it. It’s what he’s got left.

—

The last skip drops him in a time he knows all too well: three weeks before the Kerberos launch. His heart’s in his throat as he treads the familiar halls, slipping unnoticed through the security blind spots. He remembers his own and Shiro’s schedules so well that it’s easy to avoid them both, and Shiro’s room is still coded to allow Keith access via his handprint. He slips in through the open door, arranges the book on the desk and turns to go, but when he looks up, Shiro’s standing in the doorway, arms folded across his chest.

Keith’s heart stops in his chest to see Shiro so young again.

“Keith?” Shiro says after a long second, voice shocked, “it’s you? It’s been you the whole time?” His voice cracks, but he ignores it, soldiering on. “But… that’s insane. How?” He steps forward eagerly, hand reaching out to Keith’s shoulder. 

“Shiro, I don’t have time.” Keith bites his lip. “I’m sorry. There’s so much I want to tell you.”

Shiro nods slowly in understanding, pulling his hand back, and Keith’s shoulder is instantly cold. “I understand,” he says, and Keith wants to laugh a little hysterically. “Just… am I going to… does Kerberos go well?” He’s clearly trying to be as professional as he can, but the earnest edge to his question makes Keith smile softly. He reaches a hand up to cup Shiro’s cheek. 

“You’re going to be amazing, Shiro. You’ll save lives. Save the universe.”

“What…?” Shiro starts, but Keith shakes his head, pulling Shiro in for a quick, hard, hug. It’s nearly impossible to let him go, this Shiro he never thought he’d see again, Shiro with his dark hair and both arms; Shiro with no scars and no deep, haunted eyes. 

“Go,” Keith whispers in his ear, “be great.”

—

The next jump brings him home, the familiar stars of Earth meshing with the time he left plus eight hours. He lands, makes his way up the stone path to the little house. It’s been repainted, had the gardens replanted after the war. The trees are bigger, and Shiro had a training room and a hangar added out back. 

He walks in the door and into his husband’s arms, where he stays for a long, long moment. When he pulls back, Shiro takes him by the shoulders and turns him around. 

Keith puts his hand to his mouth, his eyes springing with tears. In their living room are now displayed every item Keith had given Shiro throughout his life: the mobile hangs in the corner, the Discovery model carefully settled on the mantelpiece, the dragon kite mounted on the wall. The room is crowded with a lifetime of shared memories.

“That dumb book,” Keith mutters, staring at the fairy tale book on the coffee table, and Shiro looks at him in surprise. 

“Dumb?” He says, his voice amused, “didn’t you read it?”

Keith sighs, peeling off his hood and his boots. “No,” he says, shaking his head, “I read probably two thirds of it, but I never finished. It was too sad. I only got it because I remembered you having it, so when I saw it, I thought it must’ve been from me.” He sighs in relief, standing his boots by the door. “I’m sorry, it was a lame last gift.”

“Oh, Keith,” Shiro sighs, wrapping an arm around him and guiding him to the couch, “here.” Shiro picks up the book and flips forward to the next to last page. “Look.”

Keith skims the page, his eyes falling to the illustrations. The princess is beaming next to her husband the king, surrounded by her brothers who are no longer swans, but boys. Except… Keith leans in. 

“I don’t know how you knew,” Shiro chuckles, pointing at the youngest, “but the fact that you gave this to me right before Kerberos… I read it over and over, trying to understand what you saw in it, but then, when they took my arm…”

Keith presses up against him, unable to tear his gaze from the youngest brother, whole except for where his arm should be, except for where a swan’s wing bursts from his shoulder. “I didn’t know,” he whispers, and Shiro holds him close.

“Doesn’t matter,” he says, “you did it. You were there when I needed you, just like you’ve been my whole life.” 

“I’m here now,” Keith breathes, and kisses him.

**Author's Note:**

> comments are love, uwu, please love me!!


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